G. K. Chesterton said that “men are homesick in their homes.” While most of us have more than adequate shelter, many of us still live with unfulfilled longings for home. You may long for home because you have moved around so much that you don’t really know where home is. You may live far away from your family and long to live near them. You may long for family you would want to live near. Some people live with a longing for a home in which they feel safe and loved.
Why are we homesick? Even though our longings for home may focus on what is less than ideal about where we live or whom we live with, deep down we are homesick because this is not our home. If you are a believer in Jesus, you are a citizen of heaven (Phil. 3:20). We live on earth, but “we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (2 Pet. 3:13).
Betsy Childs Howard is the author of Seasons of Waiting: Walking by Faith When Dreams Are Delayed and is an editor for the Gospel Coalition. Content taken from Seasons of Waiting by Betsy Childs Howard, ©2016. Scripture quotations within these excerpts are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version. Used by permission of Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187. www.crossway.org.
